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Tesla sponsors sustainability project for church in Oakland
Tesla sponsored a sustainability project for the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California. The project required over 1,650 in person-hours to be completed. Additionally, the preparation, installation, and solar panels were valued at $720,000. The church noted that Tesla’s investment would yield more than $285,000 in electricity saving over the next ten years. This was Tesla’s first partnership in the nation to provide a church with solar panels.
“Tesla installed a new roof for our Family Life Center Gymnasium wing, solar panels, and power wall! It is our prayer that this large-scale project will encourage other churches to install clean and sustainable energy on their campus and continue the battle for environmental justice.”
“Our deepest thanks to Rob McCafferty, Zach Hill and the Tesla team, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Assemblymember Mia Bonta for providing gracious proclamations, and especially to our Trustees Ministry, Buildings & Grounds Committee, and Trustee Leonard Medley, who shepherded the project,” Allen Temple said on its Facebook page.
On January 15, Allen Temple held a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new energy storage project at its Family Life Center in Oakland, California. The project, in partnership with Tesla, was completed on December 21, 2022.
The church said in a press release that Tesla’s sponsorship of the sustainability project would help it serve the community. These savings will enable it to direct more of its resources to community support and outreach. During power outages within its community, the Family Live Center will be continuously operational as a space for residents to receive services and support.
Reverand. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson, who serves as Senior Pastor, spoke of the lack of equitable access to clean air, water, healthy food options, and clean energy for the Flatland communities in East Oakland.
“At the heart of the issue is access. Equitable access to clean air, clean water, healthy food options, and clean energy. But there is a growing movement in California and nationwide to provide this access in overlooked and underserved communities. Dr. Ambrose Carroll and Green The Church have stood at the intersection of the Black Church and this movement creating critical connections that promote sustainability,” she said.
“Tesla’s willingness to commit their time, talent, resources, and technology to projects in the community reflects the power and potential of business and faith-based partnerships. When equity and justice for all is the goal, we all win. I am thankful for the leadership and support of our Trustee Ministry in making this vision a reality. May this be the first of many.” she added.
Reverand Dr. Ambrose Carroll, the Founder and CEO of Green The Church thanked Tesla for its involvement in the community.
“We are thankful to see our friends at Tesla involved in work that empowers the community. Through this partnership with Allen Temple, Tesla has shown its desire to ensure that in the Bay Area, when it comes to clean tech, they want all boats to rise as the clean energy sector thrives. This project brings Allen Temple one step closer to being a ‘Resilience Hub’ for its community.”
“When the neighborhood loses power due to fires, rain, storms, floods, or earthquakes, this faith community can be ready to provide food, shelter, and health aid, all of which are standards for resilience. Gentrification and marginalization have drastically affected Deep East Oakland for a long time. The black community owns many faith buildings, some of which are storefronts and others great Cathedrals, and all these buildings across the country need retrofitting. Many, like Allen Temple, can and will become Resilience Hubs!”
Tesla’s Senior Global Director of Public Policy, Rohan Patel, said that he was proud of the Tesla partnership with Allen Temple and thanked Green The Church for helping it to make it happen.
Proud of this @tesla partnership with @allentemplebc in Oakland. Thanks @greenthechurch for helping to make it happen https://t.co/Ir4a79DxiZ
— Rohan Patel (@rohanspatel) January 21, 2023
You can view the photos from the ribbon-cutting ceremony in the gallery below.
[rl_gallery id=”229394″]
Disclosure: Johnna is a $TSLA shareholder and believes in Tesla’s mission.
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News
Tesla teases new market entrance with confusing and cryptic message
Tesla teased its entrance into a new market with a confusing and what appeared to be cryptic message on the social media platform X.
The company has been teasing its entrance into several markets, including Africa, which would be a first, and South America, where it only operates in Chile.
In September, Tesla started creating active job postings for the Colombian market, hinting it would expand its presence in South America and launch in a new country for the first time in two years.
The jobs were related to various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians. These are all roles that would indicate Tesla is planning to launch a wide-scale effort to sell, manage, and repair vehicles in the market.
Last night, Tesla posted its latest hint, a cryptic video that seems to show the outline of Colombia, teasing its closer than ever to market entry:
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) November 12, 2025
This would be the next expansion into a continent where it does not have much of a presence for Tesla. Currently, there are only two Supercharger locations on the entire continent, and they’re both in Chile.
Tesla will obviously need to expand upon this crucial part of the ownership experience to enable a more confident consumer base in South America as a whole. However, it is not impossible, as many other EV charging infrastructures are available, and home charging is always a suitable option for those who have access to it.
Surprisingly, Tesla seems to be more concerned about these middle-market countries as opposed to the larger markets in South America, but that could be by design.
If Tesla were to launch in Brazil initially, it may not be able to handle the uptick in demand, and infrastructure expansion could be more difficult. Brazil may be on its list in the upcoming years, but not as of right now.
@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.
News
Tesla expands crucial Supercharging feature for easier access
It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.
Tesla has expanded a crucial Supercharging feature that helps owners identify stall availability at nearby locations.
Tesla said on Tuesday night that its “Live Availability” feature, which shows EV owners how many stalls are available at a Supercharger station, to Google Maps, a third-party app:
Live availability of Superchargers now in Google Maps pic.twitter.com/DJvS83wVxm
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) November 11, 2025
Already offering it in its own vehicles, the Live Availability feature that Teslas have is a helpful feature that helps you choose an appropriate station with plugs that are immediately available.
A number on an icon where the Supercharger is located lets EV drivers know how many stalls are available.
It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.
Essentially, when those drivers needed to charge at a Supercharger that enables non-Tesla EVs to plug in, there was a bit more of a gamble. There was no guarantee that a plug would be available, and with no way to see how many are open, it was a risk.
Tesla adding this feature allows people to have a more convenient and easier-to-use experience if they are in a non-Tesla EV. With the already expansive Supercharger Network being available to so many EV owners, there is more congestion than ever.
This new feature makes the entire experience better for all owners, especially as there is more transparency regarding the availability of plugs at Supercharger stalls.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla is able to expand on this new move, as Apple Maps compatibility is an obvious goal of the company’s in the future, we could imagine. In fact, this is one of the first times an Android Auto feature is available to those owners before it became an option for iOS users.
Apple owners tend to get priority with new features within the Tesla App itself.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM
The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.
The Boring Company is gearing up to tackle one of its toughest projects yet, a new tunnel system beneath Nashville’s notoriously tough limestone terrain. Unlike the soft-soil conditions of Las Vegas and Austin, the Music City Loop will require a “hard-rock” boring machine capable of drilling through dense, erosion-resistant bedrock.
The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.
A boring hard-rock tunneling machine
The Boring Company revealed on X that its new hard-rock TBM can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load. It also features a 15-filter dust removal system designed to keep operations clean and efficient during excavation even in places where hard rock is present.
Previous Boring Co. projects, including its Loop tunnels in Las Vegas, Austin, and Bastrop, were dug primarily through soft soils. Nashville’s geology, however, poses a different challenge. Boring Company CEO and President Steve Davis mentioned this challenge during the project’s announcement in late July.
“It’s a tough place to tunnel, Nashville. If we were optimizing for the easiest places to tunnel, it would not be here. You have extremely hard rock, like way harder than it should be. It’s an engineering problem that’s fairly easy and straightforward to solve,” Davis said.
Nashville’s limestone terrain
Experts have stated that the city’s subsurface conditions make it one of the more complex tunneling environments in the U.S. The Outer Nashville Basin is composed of cherty Mississippian-age limestone, a strong yet soluble rock that can dissolve over time, creating underground voids and caves, as noted in a report from The Tennessean.
Jakob Walter, the founder and principal engineer of Haushepherd, shared his thoughts on these challenges. “Limestone is generally a stable sedimentary bedrock material with strength parameters that are favorable for tunneling. Limestone is however fairly soluble when compared to other rack materials, and can dissolve over long periods of time when exposed to water.
“Unexpected encounters with these features while tunneling can result in significant construction delays and potential instability of the excavation. In urban locations, structures at the ground surface should also be constantly monitored with robotic total stations or similar surveying equipment to identify any early signs of movement or distress,” he said.
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